Rep. Keith Ellison, deputy chair of the Democratic National Committee, on Friday sought to immediately retract claims that North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is acting more responsibly than President Trump.

The remarks drew outrage, and in an interview after the panel with the Washington Post, Ellison went into damage control.

It prompted Trump to warn that he would unleash "fire and fury" on North Korea if it did not stop its threats to the US.

"I learned one thing about bullies: Unless you stand up to them, even if they're bigger than you, they're going to crush you", Savage told his listeners. "It's tailor-made for somebody to misuse".

The call followed the latest barrage of threats from Trump, declaring the United States military forces were "locked and loaded" and warning Kim he "will regret it fast" if he takes any action against USA territories or allies.

"All the macho war talk between rounds of golf at Bedminster has made it hard to tell Trump's words from those of the brutal 33-year-old dictator of North Korea", Reid explained. "Mother of dragons, Kim Jong-un, Donald Trump".

Savage pointed to a Business Insider report citing an expert on North Korea and China who says Pyongyang's development of nuclear weapons is "aimed at the eventual reunification of the Korean peninsula".

The United Nations Security Council, with encouragement from the US, voted unanimously at the beginning of August to impose new sanctions against North Korea in retaliation for the regime's recent intercontinental ballistic missile tests.